balmain



UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

WILLIAM H. BALMAIN, OF EVERSLEY, VEN'INOR, COUNTY OF HANTS, ISLE V OF WIGHT, ENGLAND; HARRIET FOX, EXEUUTRIX OE SAID WILLIAM II. BALMAIN, DECEASED.

SELF-LUMINOUS PAINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 264,918, dated'september 26, 1882.

Application filed November 20, 1878. Patented in England November 7, 1877, No. 4,152; in Victoria December 31, 1879, No, 2,766; in-

Italy December 31, 1880, XXV, 131; in Belgium January 3, 1881, No. 53,483; in Tasmania March 21, 1881, No. 192; in New Zcaland April 28, 1881, No. 523; in Spain May 21, 1881, No. 1,455; in Sweden June 18, 1881 in New South Wales June 25, 1881, No. 947; in Queensland July 12,1881, No. 354; in Portugal July 21, 1881, No. 688; and in Austria December 7, l88l, No. 33,137.

1' all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HENRY BAL- MAIN, of Eversley, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, in the county of Hants, England, have invented certain Improvements in Painting,Varnishing, and Whitewashing, of which the following is a specification.

The said invention consists in a luminous paint, the body of which is a phosphorescent compound or is composed in part of such a compound, and the vehicle of which is such as is used as the vehicle in ordinary paint compounds-via, one which becomes dry by evaporation or oxidation.

[ The object or article to which such paint or varnish or wash is applied is itself rendered visible in the darkest place and more or less capable of imparting light to other objects, so as to render them visible also. The phosphorcscent substance found most suitable for the purpose is a compound obtained by simply heating together a mixture of lime and sulphur or carbonate of lime and sulphur, or some of the various substances containing in. themselves both lime and sulphur-such, for exam ple, as alabaster, gypsum, and the like-with carbon or other agent to remove a portion of the oxygen contained in them, or by heating lime or carbonate of lime in a gas or vapor 0 containing sulphur,

The vehicle to be used for the luminous paint must be one which will dry by evaporation or oxidation, in order that the paint may not become soft or fluid by heat or be liable to be easily rubbed oh" by accident or use from the articles to which it has been applied. It may be any of the vehicles commonly used in oilpainting or any of those commonly used in what is known as distemper painting or whitewashing, according to the place or purpose in or for which the paint is to be used.

It is found the best results are obtained by mixing the phosphorescent substance with a colorless varnish made with mastic or other 4 5 resinous body and turpentine or spirit, making the paint as thick as convenient to apply with a brush and with as much turpentine or spirit as can be added without impairing the required thickness. Good results may, however, be obtained with drying-oils, spirit-varnishes, gums, pastes, sizes, and gelatine solutions of every description, the choice being varied to meet the object in view or the nature of the article in hand.

The mode of applying the paint, varnish. or wash will also depend upon the circumstances of the case. For example, it may be applied by a brush, as in ordinary painting, or by dipping or steeping the article in the paint, varnish, or wash; or a block or type may be used to advantage, as in calico-printing and the like. For outdoor work, or wherever the surface illuminated is exposed to the vicissitudes of weather or to injury from mechanical contingencies, it is desirable to coverit with glass, or, if the article will admit of it, to glaze it over with a flux, as in enameling, or as in ordinary pottery, and this may be accomplished without injury to the effect, even when the flux or glaze requires a red heat for fusion.

Among other applications of the said invention which may be enumerated, it is particularly advantageous for rendering visible clock or watch faces and other indicatorssuch, for example, as compasses and the scales of barom eters or thermometers-duringthenightor in dark places during the night time. In applying the invention to these and other like purposes there may be used either phosphorescent grounds with dark figures or dark grounds and phosphorescent figures or letters preferring the former. In like manner there may be produced figures and letters for use on housedoors and ends of streets, wherever it is not convenient or economical to have external source of light, signposts, and signals, and names or marks to show entries to avenues or gates, and the like.

The invention is also applicable to the illumination of railway-carriages by painting with phosphorescent pain' t a portion of the interior, thus obviating the necessity for the expense and inconvenience of the use of lamps in passing through tunnels. It may also be applied externally as warning-lights at the front and end of trains passing through tunnels, and in other similar cases, also to ordinary carriages, eithcrinternall'yorexternally. Asanightlight in a bed-room or in a room habitually dark the application has been found quite effectual, a very small proportion of the surface rendered phosphorescent afl'ording sufficient light for moving about the room. or for fixing upon and selecting an article in the midst of a number of complicated scientific instruments or other objects.

The invention may also be applied to private and public buildings in cases where it would be economical and advantageous to maintain for a short time a waning or twilight, so as to obviate the necessity for lighting earlier the gas or other artificial light. It may also be used in powder-mills and stores of powder, and in other cases where combustion or heat would be a constant source ofdanger, and generally for all purposes of artificial light where it is applicable.

In order to produce and maintain the phosphorescent light, full sunshine is not necessary, but, on the contrary, is undesirable. The illumination is best started by leaving the article or surface exposed for a short time to ordinary daylight or even artificial light, which need not be strong in order to make the illumination continue for many hours, even twenty hours, without the necessity of renewed exposure.

zinc magnesia, antimony, and chlorides of 5 the same, also crystallized acids and salts and mineral substances, and same have been inclosed and exhibited in closely-stopped bottles as a phosphorus; but such union I do not claim; but

What I claim is-- v A luminous paintthe body of which is a phosphorescent substance or composed in part of such substance, the vehicle of which is such as is ordinarily used in paintsviz.,one which will become dry by oxidation or evaporation substantially as herein described.

WV. H. BALMAIN.

Witnesses:

THOMAS DEIGHTON,

Gardener, St. Helens, Isle of Wight. J AMEs HINEs,

Gardener, Ventnor. 

